Millennials Are Forcing TV To Grow Up

'True
Detective' is an example of the dark, intelligent television that
Millennials want.HBO/"True
Detective"

Whether news organizations are trying to sell us real estate, or promising that we’ll
wreck the economy, everyone
seems obsessed with “millennials.” Also, called the “ME
Generation” or “Generation Y,” this is my generation, roughly
ages 18-35.

Coincidentally, this age group is also a large part of the
”key demographic” for television: the 18-49 crowd
determines the ratings success of a TV show on traditional cable,
and many networks consider the younger end of that spectrum to be
the most important.

Although older millennials have been in the “key demo” for years,
we’re just starting to see TV studios sit up and take notice. For
instance, the Pivot channel, which started up less than a year
ago, has announced an entire slew of new TV options aimed at
millennials, based on research into our actual interests. The
network partnered with Nielsen to do market research that showed
that the ME generation “is highly engaged in social causes and
actively pursues a life of purpose.” This isn’t exactly the
selfish, entitled bunch of codependent economy-ruiners
TIME and others have made us out to be.

If we’re as benevolent as Pivot’s study suggests, millennials are
probably looking for more intelligent sources of entertainment
than The Real Housewives of New York. And since
we’re the demographic that matters, a range of options
beyond GIRLS (even though we all love, or love
to hate GIRLS) will eventually become necessary to
keep millennials from abandoning cable television entirely.
Already, we’ve seen some of the early signs of a shift in
programming with networks like HBO and AMC opting for darker,
more plot-heavy dramas like Breaking
Bad and True Detective to keep
attention away from equally dark and plot-heavy dramas on
Netflix. And now, Pivot wants to jump into the game.

It is true that some of Pivot’s new shows seem to simply emulate
the veiled sexiness and melancholy of shows like Mad
Men. For instance, Fortitude seems like
an Alaskan remake of Twin Peaks, without the
absurdist tendencies. The show takes place in the sleepy town of
Fortitude, Alaska, where a brutal murder shakes up the
allegiances in a small town’s police department. But in a
decidedly millennial twist on a tired
trope, Fortitude also has to deal with nearby
glaciers melting, revealing “secrets long since hidden beneath
the frozen landscape.” Now that sounds a bit more like the
socially-conscious programming millennials long for.

But Pivot’s new offerings go far beyond Alaskan cop dramas. The
network has ordered over 13 new shows that are as varied as they
are developed. On title still in development is Prison
Earth, a “science fiction series with a strong female lead.”

Even if this show has no plot and a five dollar special effects
budget, it’s off to a good start. But the premise of the show
sounds both culturally relevant and fabulously nerdy: the first
group of aliens to visit earth are locked in a “Gitmo-like”
prison while human governments determine their fate. The series
promises to take on “racism, xenophobia and prisoner’s rights”
through the lens of extraterrestrials.

This is hardly the first time someone has addressed race using
sci-fi, but with the additional discussion of prison, this could
get millennials talking about prison culture, if we weren’t
already.

The other Pivot shows seem equally fascinating and social-justice
minded, which they hope will appease millennial activists. For
instance, their proposing an alternative to How It’s
Made that follows a popular item like an iPhone
from invention and production to the landfill, as well as a
series that follows young entrepreneurs in Detroit.

As someone who believes in our generation, I’m hoping that, if
the shows are as thoughtful as their descriptions, we can turn
off Who Wants to be a Child
Star or Teen Mom 40: The
Exploitation of Minors and turn on something that
starts a conversation.